Synopsis
Dr. Margaret Matheson and her partner, Tom Buckley are the world's foremost investigators of paranormal phenomena. Professional sceptics, they have debunked dozens of fraudulent mind readers, ghost hunters, faith healers and the like by detecting what Matheson calls red lights, subtle clues to the trickery behind each of these supernatural occurrences.
But when the legendary blind psychic Simon Silver comes out of retirement after 30 years, his once-fearless adversary Matheson warns Buckley to back off. Suspecting that the charismatic, spoon-bending mind reader was involved in the mysterious death of his most vociferous critic three decades earlier, she considers him far too dangerous to confront.
source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1748179/synopsis
Red Lights (2012) - Art Of The Title
Firstly, the title sequence starts
rather plainly, with just a few key names of those involved in the film
appearing on a black background. Following this a pair of hands appears within
a small spot light, behind the text, becoming the key feature of the
shot and adding just a small amount of white, creating a sense of some
good intention or ''heavenly'' aspect to the film. The shadow of
the hands is, however, quickly replaced by the dark background and white text
almost immediately after it appears, only accounting for a few
seconds of the title sequence before it is abruptly cut and the titles of
actors continues. The use of this shot may also suggest that the story is going to based on a specific individual in which others are interested or who has a significant story to tell.
When the title of the film is actually shown, the reappearing white ''lense-flare'' type lighting turns to red, obviously matching the name of the title. The lights are shown to be both focused and unfocused potentially suggesting that the storyline is not all it seems and is connected by ideas that are certain and motives that are slightly less certain or unclear to those in the plot, creating the perfect thriller storyline of uncertainty, danger and leads that both follow the plot and create dramatic plot twists. The title ''Red Lights'' refers to the idea in the plot line of two investigators of paranormal phenomena, who are professional sceptics, chasing down fraudulent mind readers, ghost hunters, faith healers, etc, and finding their ''red lights'' - subtle clues to the trickery behind each of these supernatural occurrences.
A main focus of the title sequence is an eye, in which we only see the pupil and iris against the dark background. By only seeing this part of the eye, so deep and closely, there could be connotations to the idea of the film following the supernatural profession and how they are associated with ''seeing into the future'', ''seeing into the past'' and ''seeing into the soul''. This would create the effect of hinting towards the audience that they are going to see the ideas but in a different way than they anticipate. For example, the background and the pupil are both black without any kind of detail, this could suggest that the audience are going to see the darker side of the supernatural and experience truths that they would have never have associated with the profession in a negative light. The feature of only black and white colours could also support this idea.
Another symbol displayed in the title sequence is a crucifix. This could symbolise that the supernatural is linked to the doctrine of creation, religion and the creator, God. For example, the idea of ghosts and spirits links into the idea of a heaven, hell and purgatory (a place between Heaven and Hell, where the soul is not bad enough to be sent to an eternity of damnation in Hell, but not good enough to go to Heaven, so it is sent there temporarily where the person suffers, and is purified so that it can be sent to Heaven). The crucifix could also symbolise purity, which the two investigators are trying to achieve by chasing down the fraudulent professionals within the business and removing them of their ''red lights''.
Possibly following the idea of ghosts and spirits, Jorge Calvo then adds a male face the sequence, which is continuously moving and blurring to create the blurred polaroid below. The face looks rather fierce and angry, perhaps a ghost or spirit that is hunted by the ghost hunters, using the polaroid photo for evidence of his existence. The male is also very stern
and unforgiving in his looks, possibly creating a sense of a ''red light''. The fact that the picture is also a polaroid photo implies that those who are part of the paranormal profession stick to the old traditional way of doing things, with the added motive of their ''red lights'' that create a cheat way of performing their talent.
The blurred photograph has a lack of features to create the ''ghost-like'' look that the paranormal professionals are hunting, however this lack of features may also suggest that the profession is a con as clearly no identity can be found from this photograph and no specifics are revealed.
The non-diegetic music that accompanies the title sequence is quite discordant and creates tension to add to the array of different objects and images flashed up throughout the opening. The music is very typical of a thriller film, very strong/regal but with hints of little sounds or noises that make the audience feel uncomfortable or build tension before the film has even started. This title sequence involves sounds high pitched tones, possibly supplied by a violin, to create an uncomfortable atmosphere and also uses a drum beat to keep the pace of the opening sequence.
A main focus of the title sequence is an eye, in which we only see the pupil and iris against the dark background. By only seeing this part of the eye, so deep and closely, there could be connotations to the idea of the film following the supernatural profession and how they are associated with ''seeing into the future'', ''seeing into the past'' and ''seeing into the soul''. This would create the effect of hinting towards the audience that they are going to see the ideas but in a different way than they anticipate. For example, the background and the pupil are both black without any kind of detail, this could suggest that the audience are going to see the darker side of the supernatural and experience truths that they would have never have associated with the profession in a negative light. The feature of only black and white colours could also support this idea. Another symbol displayed in the title sequence is a crucifix. This could symbolise that the supernatural is linked to the doctrine of creation, religion and the creator, God. For example, the idea of ghosts and spirits links into the idea of a heaven, hell and purgatory (a place between Heaven and Hell, where the soul is not bad enough to be sent to an eternity of damnation in Hell, but not good enough to go to Heaven, so it is sent there temporarily where the person suffers, and is purified so that it can be sent to Heaven). The crucifix could also symbolise purity, which the two investigators are trying to achieve by chasing down the fraudulent professionals within the business and removing them of their ''red lights''.and unforgiving in his looks, possibly creating a sense of a ''red light''. The fact that the picture is also a polaroid photo implies that those who are part of the paranormal profession stick to the old traditional way of doing things, with the added motive of their ''red lights'' that create a cheat way of performing their talent.
The blurred photograph has a lack of features to create the ''ghost-like'' look that the paranormal professionals are hunting, however this lack of features may also suggest that the profession is a con as clearly no identity can be found from this photograph and no specifics are revealed.
The non-diegetic music that accompanies the title sequence is quite discordant and creates tension to add to the array of different objects and images flashed up throughout the opening. The music is very typical of a thriller film, very strong/regal but with hints of little sounds or noises that make the audience feel uncomfortable or build tension before the film has even started. This title sequence involves sounds high pitched tones, possibly supplied by a violin, to create an uncomfortable atmosphere and also uses a drum beat to keep the pace of the opening sequence.
